Hunting for Richard Castle
by Dayreader
Summary: I decided to write about Castle's darker side. So what happened after 6x23 was his darker embracing him.
1. Chapter 1

_Castle's Pov_

Murder. The thing he had studied, imagined and written. Never had he thought that he would break. But oh, not break in a vulnerable way. It was like he had through all his years worn a porcelain mask that he had finally decided take off and let it fall into the floor, watching the mask shatter into pieces, spreading all over the floor.

But he had not committed a murder. Just a suicide. Thinking of Kate's reaction to the car and fire- Richard didn't feel guilt or sorrow, he felt empty. Like an empty glass bottle in the middle of an ocean.

"Richard Castle. The father, the author, the son, the fiancé…" his voice came from Richards left side. Richard turned toward the person who had opened the dark car door and sunk down into the driver seat.

"…well." He smiled.

"Richard Castle is now officially dead." Richard looked into Jerry Tyson's lifeless eyes. Jerry Tyson, aka 3XK.

"Have you read the paper yet?" Tyson asked handing Richard a black and white newspaper. Richard unfolded the paper and read the entry.

**Richard Castle's body recovered**

_**Richard Castle, the famous author of the bestseller Derek Storm and Nikki Heat got into a horrible car accident on his wedding day. Sources report that Castle was on his way to his wedding when the car's engine stopped working properly, causing Richard Castle's death. **_

_**-Did someone sabotage his car? We asked Kevin Ryan that works at NYPD. **_

_**-After the police inspected the car, they did find the circuit cut, which probably caused the car crash.**_

_**The family is devastated over the loss of Richard Castle's death and the funeral will be held in a couple of days.**_

Richard stopped reading and threw the paper to the backseat. The car they were in was simple dark Audi. So that it wouldn't draw attention.

"Aw don't be so dramatic Caste. Now when you got me…" Tyson said. Richard swallowed and turned his hand into a fist. _And the hero turned into the villain. _Tyson put the key in and started the car.

"I actually, honestly, despised you Castle. When I saw the dark look in your eyes, the look of a true hunter, I knew that you were just like me." He pulled out of the closed garage out into the road. We were still in New York, because of Tyson's self-confidence. Tall towers appeared on each side and we stood in the traffic.

"The thing though…" he continued.

"…was that I could tell what your fuel was. Adrenaline. You need it, you feed of it. I knew what you were capable of, but I also knew that you were _weak._" He hissed. Castle's mask was gone. His old self, Richard Castle, was dead. Richard Castle died on his way to his wedding. There was a new Castle now. He was a part of 3XK know. And he knew that he would kill again. But this time it wouldn't be himself.


	2. Chapter 2

_Beckett's Pov_

She looked at the body that was lying on the floor. The body belonged to a young blonde woman named Rebecca Smith. She had high cheekbones, red painted lips and what seemed too much mascara on her right eyelashes. She looked peaceful, like she was sleeping. She was placed in the funeral position. On her neck you could see that she had been strangled to death. She had this red stripe that had been left after the rope that had taken her last breath away. Kate breathed heavily as she knew who had done this. She knew that _he _was back. After everything that had happened she had hoped to at least try to move on with her life. But seeing that woman lying there on the cold grey floor was too much for her to handle.

"He's back." She whispered, placing her palm over her mouth. _Rick was right. Rick was right all along. _She felt someone placing their hand over her shoulder and she turned toward Ryan that smiled pityingly.

"It could be a copycat." Kevin said, but his unconvinced voice said otherwise. He wore a dark grey uniform and a blue tie.

"It's been a week since the accident, but I still don't understand." Kate said, voice broken.

"Kate, I'm so sorry that I suggested you to return to work. I just thought that it might… help." Kate removed her hand from her mouth and dropped it.

"Rick is dead, and now two other women are going to die. 3XK is back and Rick is dead." She turned around and walked out of the apartment. Kevin didn't follow her, knowing that she would want to be left alone. The day of his death, Kate hadn't been able to process the thought of him gone. But she had after the questions, hugging and crying taken a cab. Home alone she had sunk down into the tub accompanied with a bottle of Vodka. Not one of her proudest moments of her life, but it had taken the sorrows away. Alone and drunk at home, she had said it out loud.

_You sure know Castle how to break a women's heart. _But he was gone now, and nothing she said or did would bring him back to life. Three days earlier, praying this was all a dream, she went to Laine and asked her about his body. With tears in her mournful eyes, she said the DNA belonged to Castle. Everything about Kate's job reminded her of Castle. How he used to walk beside her, how he whined in the car about not being authorized to see that body, how he each day brought her coffee from Starbucks. Those were all memories now, and she would never see him again. Out on the streets she walked down the road with her hands pushed down into her pockets in her light brown jacket. Four days left to the funeral. Six days left until the two next bodies are going to be found. Kate didn't know how she would be able to hunt down 3XK without Rick. Rick. Her light, her love, her safe embrace. She stopped and stared into the sky.

"I'm going to catch him Castle." _Because I know that you would've done the same. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Castle's Pov_

"What the hell Tyson?" Richard burst out.

"I need to lay low, you know, after the incident." Richard continued, eying Tyson who sunk down into a chair in the living room. If you could even call it a _living room_. They were hiding in this old forgotten block on the highest floor that looked like a mess. The white walls were torn down and there was dust all over the white wooden floor.

Tyson clasped his hands and looked straight into Richard's eyes.

"She was the one." He said. His eyes shone of challenge and belief. Richard moistened his lips as he took a step forward.

"You said one week. Now they are going to be looking for you. And when they find you…" Tyson rose abruptly from the chair.

"What?" he asked.

"It's just a matter of time before they find me." Castle responded.

Three weeks before the wedding, Tyson had showed up with a gun pressed into Richard's back as he had walked down the street on his way home. Unsure of what was happening Richard had said;

_Who is this? _

Tyson: _A friend._

Richard: _My so called 'Friends' don't threaten me with guns. _

Tyson: _Well. I'm a special friend. Now, walk._

Richard wasn't sure why, but Tyson had offered him a deal. That if Richard did all that Tyson asked for, Kate would be safe. With the rest of his family. But if Richard told anyone, Tyson would know and he would've killed Kate. So when that dark SUV pulled up it was Tyson's way saying it was all over. Walking around, pretending it all was fine, Castle had hoped to catch his last moment with Kate on his wedding day. But a couple of days earlier, Richard had come in contact with Michael Smith. Smith told Richard that bad things would happen if they didn't stop Tyson soon. Uncomprehending Richard had nodded scared. Smith made Richard's mission to get in contact with Tyson again and catch him.

But a week before the wedding, Tyson caught Richard off guard and pulled him into a SUV. After a time the car stopped and Tyson pulled Richard out of the SUV. Looking around, Richard realized that they were in a warehouse. But before him, a woman with dark hair and brown eyes was tied to the floor. She was crying and she had duct tape over her mouth. Tyson pushed Richard's arm and held a gun in front of him. Walking around, Tyson now stood behind Richard and held a gun to his back. Tyson leaned closer to Richard's ear and whispered,

"You're going to kill her Castle." Swallowing, Richard had turned his hands into fists.

"No."

"It's either you or her." Tyson said.

"I would rather prefer dying than taking someone else's life."

"Really? Each day you think about how to commit the perfect murder. You think about how you would feel to take someone else's life and you write it down. You write it all down. But I see the real you. It's weakness. You're a coward." Richard didn't answer. He just stared at the crying woman in front of him.

"I bet that you've though about killing day in day out, but not having the strength to do it."

"Yes, fictional characters. They aren't real Tyson." Tyson shifted from his right leg to his left and tilted his head.

"If you don't kill her, I'll kill you, and then her. Now you have a choice Castle. All you've ever needed is a little push." Tyson pushed a gun into Richard's palm and then Tyson raised the gun to the back of Richard's head.

"All you have to do is to pull the trigger, because, this's the closest way to death." The gun Richard held in his right hand didn't move, the gun pointed towards the floor. Tyson bit his bottom lip and pushed the gun lightly toward his head.

"Your contribution to the dark side will also save Alexis. I currently have a hit man on her. And he won't pull away unless I call him within a minute." Richard held his breath and slowly pointed his gun towards the woman on the floor.

"Thirty seconds." Tyson said, tilting his head to the other side.

"I'm sorry." Richard whispered. Richard pointed the gun toward the woman, his finger on the trigger. He couldn't do it, he wouldn't do it, it was wrong, he couldn't… Richard didn't need proof to know that Alexi's life was in danger. He felt it.

"Ten seconds." Tyson's voice echoed. Richard closed his eyes and then he pulled the trigger.


	4. Chapter 4

_Beckett's Pov_

"Hi Rick." Kate smiled when she finally got to be all alone in the cemetery. She wasn't happy, she wasn't angry. At the moment she was sad, but she smiled for Rick as she could convince him that she was fine. Kate leaned against a tomb across Richard's. Richard's tomb was dark-grey and his name was engraved in gold. Roses and all kinds of flowers decorated the top of his grave.

She looked silently at his grave with her hands in her pockets. She had a dark dress and a dark jacket since it was cloudy and soon about to rain.

"You know, you had a pretty beautiful funeral Rick. Alexis gave a speech that made pretty much everyone cry. She talked about you. How you gave her courage to live the way she does. How you supported her day in day out. I invited your poker buddies and Stephen King, Pretty much everyone wanted to come and say their goodbyes. It was a lot of people Castle." Kate looked at the ground and then she returned her gaze at his tomb.

"Now when 3XK is loose and we have a limited time before the last body will drop, Gates shut down all investigations- including yours." Kate scowled.

"But I still don't understand Castle. Your car. It worked perfectly the whole day. But then on your way to the wedding the engine stopped. Report's say that you were trying to turn left and then it broke down, causing your car to fall down from the road. The car ignited and it took you with it." She stroke her face tired.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I feel that I should go and dig and find your killer- because I know that _it's _out there, but I can't find the strength to. Because if I saw your killer, I don't know what I would do…" she dropped the hand and stood up from the tomb. She walked toward Richard's grave and stroke his grave mildly.

"You know what Castle? I can't help but think about the possibility of 3XK doing this. Because I keep thinking back and I can't get rid of that song." Her voice broke as she rested her hand on his tomb._Keep smiling through, just like you always do, 'til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away. But I know that we will meet again one sunny day_. Maybe this was his plane all along, she thought silently.

"Castle, I promise you that I'm going to be strong from now. I'm going to catch 3XK this time." _But_ _this time without you._ Kate pushed her hands into her pockets and walked away from the tomb, out of the cemetery. Kate pulled out her phone and called Javier.

"Esposito."

"Any news?" Kate asked hopefully. After everyone had left, she had stood by his grave in silence not knowing where to start or find the words. _You're the poetic, the writer. I'm just the cop._ She had thought when she saw his grave. Javier lingered by his answer.

"No. I'm sorry Kate. There is no tape or record of anyone being by that car." Kate nodded and walked faster to her car.

"No, I meant the 3XK case." Kate said still.

"Oh, there's a witness that spotted him in a car in New York four days ago." Kate's heart stopped.

"Where?"

"Nearby Central park."

"We got to find him Espo. Because I think that he's the one that killed Castle."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Castle's Pov**_

Richard woke up with his heart pounding rapidly and with sweat streaming down his face. His phone on the small table beside his bed was vibrating wildly and his ringtone rang loudly. Richard fetched the phone and picked up quickly.

"Is it safe?" Richard heard Mr. Smith's voice on the other end.

"Yes." Richard answered, looking around the small empty room just in case. Tyson was currently out hunting down his next target. Her name was Lilith Whitmore and she was 23. Blonde hair, red soft lips…

"Where's Tyson?" Smith asked. Richard rose from the white dirty mattress into a sitting position, looking down to the floor, calming down.

"Out."

"Do you got the plans yet?" Richard looked up to the ceiling and sighed.

"No. He doesn't trust me yet."

"Yet. Richard. These plans are very important, you know that right?"

"Yes." The plans. How could he forget? When Richard had gotten undercover, Smith had placed a burner phone in a garbage bin outside of this old block. So on his way in, he had picked it up and hid it from Tyson.

"Have you called Kate yet?" he asked gently.

"No." Richard didn't even hesitate.

"Good, it would just have complicated things even more." He hung up. The plans. Smith believed that Tyson was a part of a terrorist network, or something like that. Richard hadn't really gotten all the details that he wanted. But Smith had reassured that it had been for Richard's safety. What safety? Richard Castle was dead, his old self died in a car accident. His new identity was Rick Brooke. Tyson was confident enough to leave his first name as a nick name. But Tyson still teased Richard by calling him Castle. Richard rose from the mattress and walked out of the room into the living room. The living room looked like the rest of the rooms. But this time, the walls were decorated of pictures and papers. But between the papers and pictures red and blue wires were drawn. Richard walked to the left side of the wall, were he saw a picture of his face, smiling. It was a picture of Richard Castle. On the bottom of the picture Tyson had added a duct tape were he had wrote with a black pen: _deceased _

From that picture a blue wire was drawn to another picture. This time the picture was of the new him, Rick Brooke. The new him looked tired, broken. The duct tape on the bottom said: _Rick Brooke _

Other blue wires were drawn to other pictures. One of the pictures was of him killing the woman on the floor with a single shoot of a gun. Richard had tried to forget the incident. But what Richard had felt from killing that woman was fear. He was afraid of himself.

_In the dark recess of the mind, a disease known as _**fear** _feasts upon the souls of those who cannot overcome its power… _

Richard's fingers touched the picture of his new self and then he followed the path of a red wire that was pinned from his picture. His finger stroke the red wire as he followed it. He followed it until he stopped in the middle of the room with his fingers resting on a big square picture. The background was white and big dark letters formed the word: **_Oklahoma_**

Richard dropped his hand and took a few steps back. Looking at the wall he saw how all the red wires were connected to that picture.


	6. Chapter 6

_Beckett's Pov_

Kate held her gun tightly in her palms as she hid behind a wall, wearing her blue bullet proof west with her gun facing the floor. This night Lilith Whitmore, 23, had been murdered in her apartment with the same M.O as 3XK. Not thinking twice when Esposito had called, Kate had made her way to the scene as quick as possible. Esposito and Ryan had found a witness that had seen Jerry Tyson head into an old building downtown. Kate was now in the building. Inside the same building as 3XK, the possible suspect as Richard Castle's murderer. Behind her Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito stood. They wore the same west as Kate did.

"On my count of three. Let's get that son of a bitch." Kate said sharply.

"One", she breathed in.

"Two", she held her breath.

"Three." She breathed out and she put the gun into the air. On the same floor as 3XK Kate couldn't think. Her heart rate was rapid and her breathing unstable. She was about to catch 3XK.

They reached the door and she looked back at Kevin that nodded as Kate kicked open the door. She ran in, waving her gun in the air, searching for Tyson. 3XK, the one that had taken Castle's life.

But Kate's breathing stopped as she had reached the final room. Uncomprehending, feeling denial, her legs felt week. She sunk down into the floor in the small bedroom.

_Tyson isn't here. He isn't here. _Those were the only words that went through her mind. Kate's eyes watered and she felt that she was about to break.

"Nothing?" she heard Javier say in another dimension.

"Nothing." Kevin said hopeless. Kate felt a tear fall and her heart break. She was finally going to get her answers, and now it was all gone.

Castle. The person she had tried to reach, was, and would forever be out of reach.

"Wait a second." Kevin said. He walked toward the wall in front of Kate and then she hear the sound of something tearing off. Kate looked at Kevin who turned around and held up a piece of paper. Javier placed his hand on Kate's shoulder.

"Do you know what this is?" Kevin said waving with the piece of paper. Kate rose from the cold hard floor and walked up to Ryan. Ryan handed her the white paper and she eyed it. The paper looked like it had been torn from a paper block. The word was hard written with a pencil.

**Oklahoma**

The word said.


	7. Chapter 7

_Castle's Pov_

An hour earlier, Tyson had run into the apartment filled with adrenaline and darker in his eyes. He had told Richard to 'not ask stupid questions' and Tyson had with panic in his voice said that they were coming closer. Apparently Tyson had needed to walk into another building before he could've met Richard in the "original building". This made no sense for Richard though, because he knew that Tyson's adrenaline wasn't to kill, but to plan. Tyson lived for designing and scheduling someone else's death. What Richard couldn't figure out was why Tyson was shaking his hands when he started tearing everything down from the wall. Richard handed Tyson a big dark plastic bag as Tyson stuffed all papers and pictures in it.

"What the hell Tyson? I thought you had everything under control!" Richard said loudly, helping Tyson tearing down the wall.

"I did. I did. But _they _must have ratted us out." Richard paused and looked straight at Tyson.

"What do you mean?" Richard asked.

"I will explain to you in time." He didn't say more, and they got out of the building into their car. When they were done stuffing the car with stuff they jumped in and got out on the road.

"Tyson, what the hell is going on?" Richard said frustrated. Tyson gripped the steering wheel and bit his lower lip.

"Terrorists. Bloody terrorists. They wanted a distraction."

"What?" Tyson tilted his head to the left.

"I said, that the terrorists wanted a distraction." Richard was confused, but then he started realizing.

"Wait. So you're working for some terrorists and,"

"You're also working for the terrorists." Tyson cut in. Richard scowled and looked at the dark road.

"So, all of this, killing the women, pulling the 3XK stunt… it's all just a distraction?" Tyson grinned as he nodded.

"Yes."

"Tyson, how many are going to die?" Tyson raised his eyebrows as he turned the car into an abandoned alley.

"I don't know… maybe thousands… maybe one hundred thousand…" Richard swallowed and looked at the old building they had stopped beside of.

"Castle. Everything is going to make sense soon enough- you just got to wait." Richard walked out of the car into the cold air. As he closed the door, he couldn't move. He couldn't move because of what he thought and felt. Richard was curious, to see this kind of death. He felt ashamed at the same time, because these thoughts could only belong to a murderer. As he thought back, he realized that he was just like Tyson. A killer. Even if Richard had thought that he killed that woman to save lives, he realised that he had taken one as well.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Beckett's Pov**_

"Any news on the 'Oklahoma' paper?" Kate asked placing a cup of coffee on Javier's desk. Kevin, who sat beside Javier rose from his chair and said,

"Yeah. We did some digging and it turns out that Oklahoma isn't just a state, in 1995 there was a mayor explosion that took a lot of life's. It was a terrorist attack." Kate scowled.

"So, what does this mean?" she asked, taking a sip from her own coffee.

"Kate, I think that 'Oklahoma' is the name of a terrorist network." Kevin said.

This was one of the moments where Kate just wanted to fall into Richard's embrace and let him say that everything would be okay, or she wanted to hear one of his crazy theories, it didn't matter. What mattered was that she wanted him _here._ But he _wasn't _and he never _would be. _

"Kate, are you okay?" Javier asked as he rose from his chair.

"Yeah", Kate said stroking away a strand of hair.

"So, have you been able to find out more?" Kevin shook his head and placed his hands on the desk.

"I'm sorry Kate, but if this's a terrorist network we should call it in for the big guys, you know, FBI or someone."

"Yeah", Kate said a bit off.

"Hey Kate, what is it?" Javier asked gently.

"It's just… I don't understand. The paper. Why would Tyson leave that piece of paper behind? Why give us a clue? Because, you have checked for finger prints, haven't you?" Javier nodded.

"As in matter of fact we did, there was no finger prints. Although…" Kevin's phone buzzed and he picked it up from his pocket.

"Laine wants to meet us." Kevin didn't have to say it twice, because Kate run/walked to the morgue with Javier and Kevin behind her.

"What is it?" Kate asked as soon they arrived to morgue where Laine stood holding the piece of paper.

"Kate, I don't know how to say this… but," she placed the piece of paper on the table.

"The paper you found, it was torn out from a notebook, a black notebook. Kate, the notebook belonged to Castle. I took the piece of paper and matched it to a few out torn pages Castle had left at home." _This wasn't happening. _Kate had been right all along. Because if Tyson hadn't murdered Rick, then what was Tyson doing with his Notebook?

"I…" but Kate couldn't find words to express her thoughts. It was all a blur- and she just needed to escape. So she ran out of the morgue and onto the street, she breathed heavily and grey vapor formed into the air in the cold dark night. She looked across the street, and the time stopped.

She saw a figure across the street that was awfully familiar.

"Castle?" she couldn't breathe and her heart was rapidly beating in her chest. The figure started walking away so she saw no other choice than to run. Maybe she was crazy, maybe she was hallucinating, but she couldn't stand the thought of the options becoming true. So she looked at her right and left, and then she ran over the street, trying not to get hit by a car. She looked as the figure walked faster into a crowd. She couldn't lose him, not again, so she memorized his appearance. A long light brown coat and a dark brown hat. The figure started blending in and for a second he disappeared.

"Castle!" she yelled as she pushed aside people so that she could get to him.

"Excuse me!" she was only a few meters away from him she saw his hat.

"Rick stop!" but he didn't, she pushed aside some other people and then she was only a few centimeters away from him.

"Rick!" she managed to grip his shoulder, the light brown leather jacket.

"Excuse me?" the figure said. He was a male, brown hair, blue-green eyes, but he wasn't Rick. He wasn't Castle.

"I'm so sorry, I thought that you were someone else." She could finally breath, but each breath she took hurt even more. She turned around and walked away. For a seconds she had been sure that she'd seen Rick, but she hadn't.

"Where the hell are you Castle"? she said with her voice broken and tears falling.


	9. Chapter 9

_Castle's Pov_

He had to see her, even if it wasn't Richard Castle that had stood across the road from the precinct.

But seeing her, hearing her voice scream his name, his _old _name, made him flinch.

It was stupid of him to even think of such a reckless thing, he was lucky that he had the look-alike in position.

"Castle, come here." Richard heard Tyson say from the living room. Richard and Tyson had moved to a new block to keep away from cops and others… Tyson hadn't really given a clear description of who was after them, but he hadn't also shared his thoughts of other important stuff.

Each day, Mr. Smith would call Richard in the middle of the night to check if Richard was okay and if he had found out who the terrorist network was, when and where they would strike. Each day Richard answered with an 'I don't know, but soon'. Mr. Smith Started to seem impatient, because of Richard's failure.

Richard was impressed of how he was able to lie each time with a straight voice.

He didn't know how, he didn't know why, if he actually told Mr. Smith the truth, Richard felt that he would betray him, betray Tyson. Tyson, the one that had helped him escape his old life.

Recently, Richard had started to feel _wrong. _He didn't feel _sick, _he couldn't describe it but whatever it was, he felt _wrong._ It was like something within him wasn't working properly, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Yes?" Richard said as he reached the living room.

"You know what this is?" Tyson asked pointing his finger at the 'Oklahoma' picture.

"Well, it's a word." Richard said.

"Ha ha, really funny," he said dry.

"Castle, you're going to meet some old friends of mine soon",

"How soon?" Richard cut in.

"Tonight. Oh, and Castle. I want you to be polite tonight, because those are my terrorist friends. So I need you to behave." The word 'terrorist' made Richard's mind spin a thousand thoughts. Richard seemed troubled because he couldn't seem to keep his mind clear.

"Oh, is he nervous?" Tyson said, he sounded like a grinning cat, or maybe a grinning devil…

"Don't be", Tyson said, walking towards the door. Richard glanced at the wall that was covered of pictures and papers.

"By the way, you know what the biggest distraction is going to be?" Richard shook his head as he followed Tyson to the door.

"There's no third victim." No third victim would mean for the NYPD that it had to be a copycat that had done the deed. But it wouldn't necessarily mean that _everyone _would believe it.

"Oh, and Castle, bring a jacket. I've heard that it's cold outside. Because, you know how it can make your skin shiver when you're out on thin ice."


	10. Chapter 10

_Beckett's Pov_

"Can I have your attention?" Martha asked knocking her fork against her glass of wine. Everyone around her turned toward her.

"I would love..." Kate's eyes narrowed as she felt her phone buzz on the white table. Today was a some sort of memorial for Richard Castle. Kate didn't want to be rude for not listening to Martha, but Kate quickly reached for the phone.

_Blocked _

The screen said. Scowling Kate rose slowly from her chair and excused herself. It was like maybe twenty people at that table, including Martha and Alexis. They all watched as Kate made her way out of the small room and picked up the phone.

"Kate Beckett?" She couldn't explain it, but something felt wrong as she hadn't expected a call at this time a night.

"This's Smith, and we need to talk." A voice and a sentence she had not expected 00:41 in the dark night.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Castle's Pov**_

Richard and Tyson walked into an old abandoned building on the edge of the town. What Richard had not expected of his life was to walk into a room full of terrorists. Or well, it was at least what Tyson had said. The room was big and open, but in the middle of the room a red sofa stood. On the sofa five people sat, facing Richard and Tyson as they walked into the building.

The men didn't look as Richard expected. Like, cigars or cigarette's shoved into their mouth's or dark sun glasses over their eyes. They weren't dressed in dark cloth's or Tuxedo's.

They looked just like ordinary people. One of them wore blue glasses though. They wore like ordinary cloth's like blue or green T-shirts and dark jeans. One had a blue Hawaii shirt, brown sunglasses and white hair and a white mustage. Two of them had jackets though. This view got Richard shocked since he did not expect 'terrorist's' to look like this.

"Hey." Tyson said walking toward the terrorist's. Richard nodded and followed Tyson since he had no idea of what he was supposed to do.

"I would like to introduce you to Rick Brooke" The terrorist's nodded and then the one with the blue shirt said,

"Isn't that the famous novelist?" Richard shrugged.

"Was." There was a moment of silence.

"Let's skip the small talk." the one in the green shirt said.

"We will need you, Ricky something, to do us a favour." Richard nodded, not bothering to correct the terrorist.

"Okay. Let me get back to the start. The bombing is going to happen on the NY Time square. I will need you, Ricky, when the time has come, to set off the bombing" Richard raised his eyebrows but didn't wince.

"Oh." Richard slipped.

"Don't flatter yourself. You will be by the bomb in case it doesn't go off. So if it doesn't," the green shirt said while gesturing a circle with his arms,

"You will have to make it 'boom'." Richard didn't really feelcomfortable with the plan, Tyson suddenly touched Richard's arm and Richard felt a sting- then the pain was gone. Richard stared at the green shirt for a while, the green shirt gazed back and asked once more;

"Will you set the bomb off?" Richard didn't hesitate this time and nodded.

"Great. Then let's go over the plan." Tyson spoke.


	12. Chapter 12

_Becket's Pov_

Alone in Castle's bedroom, Kate pressed the phone against her ear.

"Smith?" she said.

"Beckett. Please understand that I would not call if this wasn't an emergency." Kate sunk down unto Castle's bed and stared at the wall.

"Have something happened?" Kate wasn't sure of what to say.

"Yes. I'm sorry that I'll have to say this over the phone- but I don't see any other choice. I feel confident to share this information since this phone is untraceable."

"Okay." Kate said, her heart beat raised.

"Richard Castle is still alive." Kate's eyes widened, her body hardened and she quickly jumped up onto her feet's. Kate could barely breathe.

"No." she said after a while.

"I went to his funeral, I saw his remains', I saw the DNA result."

"Kate, there's no reason for me to lie. Funeral's, remains and DNA's- they can all be faked."

"What are you saying?" Kate's heart was beating rapidly in her chest and she felt like she was going to explode.

"Your fiancé is still out there. But I believe that his name nowadays is Rick Brook. Kate, I need you to get out there and find him." Kate didn't know what she was doing, her hands were shaking and she realized that she was crying.

"Where's your proof? And why would he do something like this? The day of our wedding?" Kate knew that she would regret not asking the right questions. Because she knew that she would probably come up with at least dozen new questions after this phone call.

"I know that you're confused. I will send you a file with a recorded call between Castle and me. Now, I don't know when I will be able to contact you again. I need you to find Castle. He hasn't responded to any of my phone calls in two days. Something might have happened." Kate scowled.

"What phone calls? What is he doing?"

"I can't tell you more than that he's working for me. But I can tell you, that he was indeed abducted on his wedding day." _He was abducted on his wedding day. Abducted. _How couldn't she have known? How couldn't she have felt it? That he was still alive? Look at what pain and sorrow's done to you, a voice in her head said.

"How do I get him back?" she couldn't believe that he was alive, not until she had listened to that recording.

"Lie. You do what you have to. Use your NYPD contacts. But you'll need to lure him out."

"Wait, why do you suddenly want him back?" Kate had no idea what she was doing. She was standing in front of some paintings, tangling her fingers in her hair.

"I believe that he's gone too deep into his cover." And then the call ended.


	13. Chapter 13

_Castle's Pov_

"So whatever I do, whatever happens, I die?" Richard asked the terrorist's. Most of them nodded, but the one in the blue shirt- Cinnamon, Richard though his name was, shook his head.

"Not necessarily. Look, here's the plan: It's all happening on 15th at midnight in NY time square. There are going to be a lot of people since there's this tragic event- anyways. The bomb will go off at midnight." The green shirt (Ronnie) lifted his hand up into the air and quietened Cinnamon.

"All you have to know is that the whole street's and platforms are covered of bomb's. The whole thing is going to go off at midnight. Here's the hard part: We need someone that start's the bomb. And that one may be you. You, Ricky, will stand right there by the bomb. If it doesn't go off, you will be given the chance to take this dead man switch. You can then walk out of the building and set it off. Hide behind a rock or just stay in the building- I don't care. The problem is that the electricity must be in balance, so the light on the like, bomb is vital to have a green light. If it lights red the electricity is unbalanced and it's a risk that all the bombs won't go off. So if the lamp light's red you will have to open the bomb and cut the red wire. That will manually set off the bomb's and you will have the dead man's switch by your hand." Richard nodded, but then he said.

"Could you please repeat what you just said?" Tyson rolled his eyes and the green shirt explained again that the bomb Richard was going to set off was the main bomb that was linked to the other bombs around NY time square.

"The only thing you need to know is that if the bomb doesn't go off, you cut the red wire and press the dead man's switch. Once you let go off the dead man's switch, the bombs will go off. The whole bombing is scheduled to go off at midnight. We will have a usual taxi that will escort you into a building where you will set off the bombs." Richard didn't know why, but he looked at the terrorists and said.

"But why me?" the green shirt shrugged.

"Your books sucks", Cinnamon said.

"Let's just say that you're declared as dead and that it's easiest to use you, our millionaire novelist's."

Richard was unsure of why the room was so hazy, he actually felt like some sort of zombie that did everything that people asked him to.

"Okay."

"Great, let's go Castle." Tyson said, grabbing his arm.


	14. Chapter 14

_Beckett's Pov_

_He was alive. _It was the only thing that Kate could think. He was alive but he hadn't called her. Kate had seen the recording not once but twice already. Richard was alive. It was a thought she had hard time processing. She had went to his funeral! Given her speech.

She needed to focus, she needed to wipe her tears away. All she needed to do was to think, think it all through.


	15. Chapter 15

Castle's Pov

Rain was pouring down the windows in the small apartment.

Today was the day of the bombing.

Today was the day I would die; he thought, sitting on his bed, reading the last pages of Casino Royal. Richard hadn't been able to realise until now why he was willing to help Tyson and why he'd let down the people he loved.

But now he did. They had drugged him, stuffed him with god knows what. All to make him a lap dog, all to make him obey.

As he ended the sentence, he closed the book and pulled out his phone. The new, dark small phone had deep scratches on both sides after the few times he had dropped it. Turning the phone on and off, he hated the fact that he couldn't call.

But he clenched his hand into a fist and put the phone down on the bed. He hadn't realised it until now, but all he had was gone. There was no family, no money, no pet, and no home. Richard was alone, and soon he would be thrown into the burning fire, for real this time.

Tyson was gone. When he said he couldn't "deliver the package" the terrorists had shoot him in cold blood. Whatever Tyson had gotten into, it had killed him. And now it would kill Richard.

The thing about being drugged is that it doesn't have the same effect as alcohol. It doesn't make you hyperventilated, just the opposite, it makes you dull and stupid.

A few weeks had passed since they had shoot Tyson. They had kept Richard in this cellar, giving him regular dosages of the drug that kept him off. The thing was, they hadn't taken his phone away from him, but they had taken the SIM card away, to their 'generosity' they had left a charger.

Richard had realised that he had started to recover from the drug. Not fully, but partly. They stopped drugging Richard yesterday. They probably wanted him some kind of reasonable, but they still wanted him to obey a cold blood order. Tonight, at midnight, Richard would set of the bomb, killing thousands of people. For what Richard couldn't figure out. Richard was uncertain that they wouldn't drug him for tonight.

He had the tool just beside him, but he hadn't the power to use it.

Whatever the scenario, whatever the scene, there was no escape.

Richard couldn't escape.


	16. Chapter 16

Beckett's Pov

"Kate." Ryan's voice woke Kate from the dwelling of what was wrong with Richard. In response she looked up, with hair falling over her eyes which she brushed behind her ear with her fingers.

"We've located the bomb, Kate?" as her eyes widened, Ryan's sad smile shone of pity.

"Kate, we still don't know if Castle's not a captive, right?" Kate wanted to smile, she wanted to hug him for all his doubt about Richard, but all she managed was a broken smile, and glints of tears in her eyes.

"I don't know. I just don't know what to believe anymore." Kate stroke her fingertips beneath her eyes, feeling the forming tears.

Something unexpected happened, and Ryan walked up to Kate, with his front facing her eyes and grabbed her shoulders. He held her shoulders tightly and looked down into her eyes with dead honest eyes.

"Kate, you need to stay strong. Don't give up, because I won't let you. We don't know what happened to Castle. We don't know where his been or if someone's…" he looked down at the floor and then he found his gaze back at her, his hands still wrapped around Kate's shoulders.

"We just don't know okay? And we will find out, very soon. But now we need to concentrate on the bomb. Sure, Castle's involved but we _don't know how_. We need to at least give him the beneficial of a doubt, right?"

What Ryan said to Kate took her aback. _You need to stay strong, _a sentence that may otherwise be waved away, but not for Kate. Staying strong was her fuel, her motto. After tumbling in darkness for the past three weeks, she realized that it was what she had to do. She could morn how much she wanted later on, but for now she needed to focus and go to the scene. She needed to focus on the case.

Ryan let go of Kate's shoulders and then took a step back.

"We need to hurry." Ryan said.

Hi! Thank you so much for your support guys! Feel so bad for not being able to update at least once a week :( I just have a lot to study! Anyways, thank u and hope u keep enjoying this story! :)


	17. Chapter 17

Castle's Pov.

Richard did have a phone. He could not in fact call, but what he could do was to connect his phone to the WIFI. The whole week, when he had somewhat regain consciousness, his first instinct was to call, when that wasn't plausible, he tried to get through the WIFI password. For a week, 24/7, as they nowadays called it, he would try out all kinds of passwords, failing each time.

Empty on any ideas, he sighed, and then decided to try one last time.

_Kittycat1_

He had tried out all plausible combinations with numbers and words, knowing typing the right password were like finding a needle in a haystack.

His phone connected. He had WIFI.

For a second, he couldn't believe it, but then he couldn't waste any time, so he exited the settings end was back at the home screen.

He looked at the top corner of the phone, seeing the 1 bar of WIFI he had. He believed that he could get on skype; he really thought that he would hear _her _voice.

He swiped right and his eyes widened as he saw the blue skype application. He pressed it quickly. He was welcomed by the log in and password site.

Not wasting another second, he typed his username and password and gazed impatiently the circulating circle that kept spinning and spinning.

However, the app wouldn't let him log in. Defeated he realised that his WIFI signal wasn't enough, he rose and walked around the room, but the bar remained the same and the skype app wouldn't let him in.

_But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated._

_Hope is the last thing a person does before they are defeated._

The reason he quoted Hemmingway and Henry Rollins was simply because he couldn't make up his own thoughts. Maybe a week didn't seem as much, but in an own created hell it felt like an eternity.

But then it hit him. They must have blocked all social media. Maybe that was the reason he couldn't log in. He corrected himself; _that was the reason why he couldn't log in._ For a minute he had believed that this was it, hope had enlightened within him, but now it was extinguished. In a last attempt, he exited the app and clicked the chrome app.

It worked.

It took him a moment to come with an idea of how he could contact anyone. He didn't have Facebook or anything like that.

NYPD. He could send a tip and so he did. He wrote that he was suspicious about a man around the area of NY time square, he wrote to them in a way that would make it sound like there was a bomb there, which there was. He didn't sign his name because he didn't know who would get it or if they would believe "Richard Castle", the dead author.

Just as he hit sent, the locked door opened and a tall, muscular dark haired guy with dark wolf eyes entered.

"It's time." In the guy's hand, he squeezed tightly a green needle. Richard was for the first time in a long time _terrified._

He was a couple of breaths away from fading away, losing himself to his darker self. Gazing the guy that approached with the needle, he knew that _they_ would only use force if he tried to fight back, so he closed his eyes, because without a vision there was no hope.


End file.
